Almighty God, who didst rescue Samuel Ajayi Crowther from slavery, sent him to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to his people in Nigeria, and made him the first bishop from the people of West Africa: Grant that those who follow in his steps may reap what he has sown and find abundant help for the harvest; through him who took upon himself the form of a slave that we might be free, the same Jesus Christ; who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
I’m glad to see the remarkable +Samuel Crowther finally getting some overdue recognition through this provisional feast day. Not only was Crowther the first African (and first Nigerian) to be made an Anglican bishop (in 1864), he was also a gifted linguist, who worked on the translation of both the Bible and the BCP into his native tongue, the Yoruba language.
If today the Anglican province of Nigeria is the largest in the whole Anglican world, this is partly to the credit of +Crowther, who showed the indigenous bishops could do a tremendous job, if given the chance. His selection and appointment way back in 1864, not long before the first Lambeth Conference (to which he was invited, but couldn’t attend), is also to the credit of the CMS (the evangelical Church Missionary Society), which actively fostered the then radical notion of promoting indigenous leaders to influential church posts long before it became fashionable. Bishop Crowther died on this day in 1891.
Thank God for the faithful life and witness of +Samuel Crowther.
David Handy+